By Inches, Not Miles
by JuliaBeth
Summary: Sometimes love doesn't happen at first sight. Sometimes it creeps in, inches at a time, until they are all you can think of and all you would ever want. Story is AU.
1. Chapter 1

A/N1: I own nothing from the Home Improvement universe.

A/N2: This story is AU. Story starts between the first and second season.

* * *

It was a beautiful fall night in Michigan. Just the right temperature for a crackling fire, but not so cold that you couldn't go out. The perfect night to be on a date. Of course, Al Borland wasn't on a date. He was at the Taylor house, babysitting for the boys so that Tim and Jill could have a date night. Oh well, it wasn't like he had a date anyway. There were a few women he could call when he wanted a night out, or more, but none that he had serious feelings about and he hadn't been in the mood for a casual hook up lately. He had gone out with Greta a few times, but it was clear she didn't want a serious relationship. Besides, she was eleven years younger than him and still in college. They were in totally different places in life. Still, she was usually up for dinner and movie, a car show, or whatever. He, however, was not up for frat parties and rock concerts for bands he'd never even heard of. Then there was Andy who lived in his building and was always inviting him over for supper and leaving desserts in front of his door. He wasn't sure he wanted to open that can of worms again, though, because after their first date, she was pretty persistent that he should spend the night. Maybe it made him old fashioned, or even a prude, but he thought he should know more about a woman than her last name and that she like Chinese food before they slept together. She apparently didn't share his opinion, since when he first turned down her offer, she'd snapped that he should be thanking her for even wanting to sleep with him and implied that he and Tim were a little too close. Then she'd called and left 50 apologies on his machine and started leaving baked goods in front of his door when he was at work.

Other than that, there really wasn't any woman he could call more than just a good friend in his life. That was the way it had always been. He'd never been the guy who swept the girls off their feet. He was the guy that they complained about that guy to. He was the one who was asked to fix their sink, or invited to dinner, but was always turned down for a second or third date and he had just about accepted that it was his fate to stop looking for Mrs. Right and settle for the occasional Ms. Right-now.

This particular night, it was well after ten, the boys were all in bed, him having just sent Brad upstairs at the end of the Pistons game. Randy and Mark had gone upstairs to play Nintendo shortly after supper. When he had gone up to check on them, they were both sound asleep in front of their television.

He had straightened up from supper and cleared away his and Brad's snacks. Tim and Jill were supposed to be back around eleven thirty and he was looking forward to getting home. He was half dozing when the doorbell rang. He stumbled to the door with some concern. He didn't know anyone who would be just stopping by this time of night and Tim wouldn't ring the doorbell.

He went to the door and checked the side window. Recognizing the young woman he quickly opened the door. Tim's younger sister Kara was shivering on the doorstep.

"Oh!" She sounded surprised. "Is Tim home?"

"I'm babysitting," Al replied. "He will be home soon. Come in, come in. Come over by the fire."

She was dressed in just a thin t-shirt, a pair of short blue cut off sweats, and winter boots.

"You have to be freezing," he said, because while it wasn't extremely cold, it was too cold to be out without a jacket, especially if you were only half dressed to begin with. He grabbed Jill's throw blanket and wrapped it around her small shoulders.

"Thanks," she said. "Where's Tim?"

"He and Jill went to a charity auction," he said. "They'll be home soon. Here, let me make you some coffee."

"No, no, don't bother," she waved the offer away.

Al wasn't sure what to do. He known Kara for a few years but they weren't really friends, more like just acquaintances. He'd seen her around at birthday parties and the boys' events through the years. She was eight years younger than Tim and was engaged to a pharmaceutical rep who, in Al's opinion, and Tim's, and Jill's, was a total jerk. He could tell that she was upset and had been crying and that wasn't exactly an outfit one would wear for a quick trip in late fall in Detroit.

"Kara, are you alright?" he asked. "Can I do something?"

She shook her head and started to speak, but sobbed instead.

"Hey, hey, it can't be that bad," he said, stepping closer to her. After a rather awkward moment, not knowing what else to do, he hugged her gently.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said.

"No, no, it's okay," he replied. He lead her over to the sofa. "Here sit down." Much to his surprise, she held on to him as they sat down. "Do you want to call Jack?"

He realized that was the wrong question as her sobs grew harder. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head.

"Okay, okay," he said, rubbing her back as she clung to his chest and sobbed against his shoulder.

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Please read and review.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N1: I own nothing from the Home Improvement universe.

A/N2: This story is AU. Story starts between the first and second season.

* * *

Al hadn't heard from Tim over the weekend, except for a message on his machine Saturday night asking if he could get the supplies for that week's Tool Time project on his own.

He was setting up the project Monday morning when Tim came in.

"How's Kara?" he asked.

Tim just grunted.

"Okay," Al said before continuing to cut the lumber.

After a few minutes, Tim came over.

"You've met Jack, right?" he asked.

Al rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Get this. He's married," Tim said.

"Since when? I thought he and Kara were engaged," Al asked.

"So did she. Hence why she was so upset." Tim shook his head in disgust. "Apparently, he's been married this whole time. And he has a kid. All the 'traveling' he did? He was just going back to Chicago and staying with his wife and kid who coincidentally, thought he was spending half the week in Detroit for work. So, he calls her Friday night and said he was staying over for work and was going to come home Saturday night. Then, when she was in bed, this woman calls her and demands to know why her husband is calling her all the time. Before Kara could even respond, she hears Jack arguing in the background. Then he gets on the phone and basically tells her that he's been 'misleading' her and that he's married with a baby."

"Wow." Al wasn't sure what else could be said. "The whole time?"

Tim nodded. "Yeah. I knew there was something sneaky about that guy. I mean, he stood in my kitchen last Christmas and proposed to her, knowing that he was already married. He spent all weekend calling my house, trying to 'explain'. Man, I feel like getting Marty, Brian, Jeff, and Steve and driving down to Chicago and explain to Jack why you don't screw over a girl with five brothers." He threw the board he was holding onto the workbench. "Look, I need to go clear my head for a minute before I start handling power tools or I might hurt someone."

"Yeah, because that would be a first," Al replied as Tim walked toward the back of the studio. He shook his head and started laying out the pieces they would need to make a bookshelf and clearing away the extra. He thought about the first time he'd met Kara. It had been about four years earlier when Tool Time had only been on the air but a few months. It was Tim's thirty-third birthday and Jill had asked for Al's help in getting Tim some specialty tools and hiding them from him. He was dropping them off before the party.

He rang the doorbell and heard someone call out, "Come in."

He stepped inside to see Kara up on a ladder hanging streamers from the ceiling.

"Hi, I'm looking for Jill," he said.

"Right. She told me you were going to stop by. She is keeping Tim out of the house while we decorate. She said to put the gift in the garage," she pointed at the garage door.

He nodded and put the box on Tim's tool bench. He stepped back in the house just in time to see Brad run under the ladder, causing it to sway. He ran over, intending to catch the ladder and steady it but was already tipping over. Kara, in an attempt to avoid to much harm, tried to jump off the other side. She crashed into Al, knocking both of them to the floor.

She looked shocked for a moment then grinned. "Thank you for breaking my fall," she grinned.

For the first and probably only time in his life, Al had the perfect comeback ready. "It was my pleasure, Ma'am," he replied.

Kara laughed and got to her feet holding out a hand to help him up.

"I'm Kara. I'm Tim's sister," she smiled. "You're Al, right? I watch the show."

"Nice to meet you," he said. He looked at her. She was short, with curly brown hair and crystal blue eyes. She wasn't glamorous like Lisa but she was cute. She had that girl next door quality. Suddenly, Al felt guilty for noticing and made some lame excuse as he rushed out.

The next time he'd seen her, she was sitting on Tim's worktable, filing her nails as Tim tuned up her car. Tim had asked him to come over and help get started on that week's Tool Time project. Back in the the early days of the show, they often had to do much of the prep work in their own time, usually at Tim's house, or in Al's workshop over at his mom's house since they didn't have a lot of tools on set.

He walked into the garage to hear Tim good-naturedly lecturing Kara that she should learn how to tune up her own car.

"Why?" She asked. "You'd just do anyway."

"There might be a time when I'm not around," he replied.

"My husband'll do it," she replied.

"That's assuming you have a husband," Tim said. "Prospects aren't that good."

"Well, we're assuming you're dead, we can assume I'm married."

"Kay, I'm serious."

"Okay, so if you're dead and can't work on my car, are there no tune-up places left, or did all those guys die too?" She asked.

"You don't want to take your car to those places, they'll take one look at you and try to rip you off," Tim said. "Try to sell you winter air or blinker fluid or something."

"Well, I'll just tell them that my brother was Tim 'The Tool Man' Taylor and once they stop laughing, they'll know they can't swindle me."

"Fine, they're all dead too," Tim said.

At this point, Kara looked up at Al who was still standing by the door. "Hey, if he wants to do a salute to tune ups, you'd better call in. Apparently he's going to blow everything up so that I have to learn to change my own oil." She looked down at Tim under her car. "Hey, I got it! Al?"

"Yes?"

"If Tim blows up himself and all the oil change shops in the greater Detroit area, will you tune up my car for me?" she asked, her blue eyes twinkling.

"Um.., sure," he said, not really sure how to reply.

"See there, Timbo? I don't have to learn. Al will change my oil for me," she said.

"If I blow up Tool Time, he'll be with me," Tim said.

"No, he won't. I just told him to call in." She winked at Al before returning to filing her nails.

After that, she started meeting Tim at the studio for lunch. A few times Tim invited him to come along with them. Kara had the same quick wit and sense of humor as Tim, though her humor was more self depreciating than aimed at others like Tim's.

He wanted to ask her out back then but he just couldn't. He knew it was irrational but at the time, just the thought of asking someone out would make him burn with guilt. Alma, Cal, everyone he knew told him that eighteen months was more than enough time to move on, but what they didn't understand was that to him it hadn't been eighteen months, it had _just_ been eighteen months and he just wasn't ready to let go yet.

* * *

Please R and R.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N1: I own nothing from the Home Improvement universe.

A/N2: This story is AU. Story starts between the first and second season.

* * *

Kara had been living in Tim's den for the last month. At first, it was because she didn't want to be at the apartment where she had unwittingly been kept as a mistress. Then it was because she found out that she couldn't live at her old apartment. It had been in Jack's name and he'd called and canceled the lease and the owner was selling the building. Oh well, it wasn't the worst thing that had happened, but she was anxious to get a place of her own. She was supposed to go look at house a few blocks away with Tim that afternoon after Tool Time.

Right now though, she was taking advantage of the empty house to do something she had been putting off. She sat on the edge of bathtub and watched as her fourth and last pregnancy test turned positive.

"No," she whispered. This wasn't supposed to happen this way. She was supposed to be happily engaged, starting a family, looking for a house with her soon to be husband. Not living in her brother's den, sharing a bathroom with his three boys, and hoping that she had enough savings to at least afford a semi-decent house in a decent neighborhood.

"Kara?" Jill called out, coming in from buying groceries. "Are you upstairs?"

Kara quickly stuffed the tests in her robe pocket, dried her eyes, and went down.

"Oh, were you taking a shower?" Jill asked.

Kara shrugged. "I was taking advantage of the boys being out of the house."

"Sorry I interrupted you," Jill replied.

"No problem. I'm supposed to be meeting Tim soon anyway," she replied.

"Thank you for letting him help you," Jill said. "I know it might be inconvenient to wait for him to go look at all these houses with you but he feels like he needs to be doing something."

"I know," Kara smiled. "It's okay. I'd probably want his opinion anyway. Besides, all the other boys want to do is go kick Jack in a sensitive area."

"Oh, Tim wants to do that too," Jill grinned. "Have you talked to him? Has he tried to call again?"

Kara shook her head. "And say what? Sorry, I didn't tell you I was married?"

"Has he tried to explain at all?"

"Nothing I believe." She looked at the clock. "Well, I better get dressed and go meet Tim."

* * *

"Hey, Al?" Tim approached him after Tool Time was over.

"What's up?"

"I'm going over to look at house with Kara," Tim said. "It's kind of run down to be honest, but it's in her price range and it's in my neighborhood, which I like, so would you be willing to go with us and give your opinion on the plumbing and foundation? You'll know that stuff better than me and if they're shot, she doesn't need to bother with this house."

"Well, I don't have any other plans this afternoon, so sure," Al answered.

"Great. Let me change and we will go," Tim said.

Twenty minutes later they met Kara at a dilapidated house. It had, at once, been a beautiful house. It was Victorian-style with two stories, a large front porch and a round tower with three stories of windows. However, it was long past it's prime.

"Really, Tim?" Kara said as they walked up on the porch. "This is the house you think is perfect for me?"

"Look at it," Tim said, practically bouncing with energy just like when he was starting any project. "Look at the detail work. Let's go inside. You're going to love the inside."

"Are you sure it won't fall in if we all go in there?" She asked.

"Well, you have put on a few pounds," Tim replied, looking at Kara as though he was sizing up her weight.

"Why do I talk to you?" She asked.

"Because Jeff and Marty are worse?"

Kara nodded in agreement. "That's true. Hi, Al. How did you get roped into this?"

He shrugged. "I don't mind. I wasn't busy this afternoon."

"Great!" she smiled. "I may need some help hiding the body when I murder Tim." She glared at Tim again.

"Well, this would be the perfect house for it," he quipped, causing Kara to giggle.

"Yeah, yeah, come on in," Tim said, finally getting the key to turn the old lock.

Tim was right, Kara did love the house. The first floor had a large foyer with a staircase along one side and a living area, bathroom, and sitting room on the tower side and a kitchen and dining room on the other. The upstairs was three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The rooms were small but there were a lot of nice details in the house. Still, Kara wasn't sure. Al had given his approval that foundation was sound and the plumbing needed a little updating but nothing too major.

"Tim, this house will take forever to renovate," Kara said, trying to convince herself more than Tim.

"Nah, six, eight months tops," he replied.

"I'm not living with you for six months," she said. "I did it for sixteen years already. I've paid my debt to society."

"Haha," he said. "Come on, Kay, this could be a great house."

"Yeah, but I can't afford great," she protested again. "I can barely afford bad."

"Sure you can," Tim replied. "We'll make it a Tool Time project."

"You can't do that," Kara replied. "That's way too much."

"Sure, I can," he said, confidently. "Right, Al?"

As much as Al wanted to agree with Kara, Tim could talk Mr. Binford into anything and Al, himself, was itching to make this house a project house as much as Tim was. "You'd be surprised what Tim can do," he answered.

"Come on," Tim said, pulling Kara towards what she had thought was a second closet in the Master bedroom. "I haven't shown you the best part." He opened the door so reveal a staircase. At the top was the tower room. It was the size of the master bedroom without a bathroom and had large windows on three sides. "I thought this could be your writing room. We could install a half bath at the back of the room and I could put in some built in bookshelves between these windows and look. We could put you a built in desk right here, under this window and you could look at the whole neighborhood." He pulled her over to the center windows.

She looked out the windows over the now unkempt yard. Finally, she could see it. Not Tim's vision exactly, but the sight of the yard freshly raked, flowerbeds banked by the house and walkways and she could see herself, sitting in swing, watching a little brown haired girl playing in the yard. "Dirty pool, Timmy," she said with a sigh. "Let's do it."

Tim's whole face broke into a smile. "All right! I'll go with you to the bank tomorrow. If everything goes well, we could start work next week. I'd say we could have you in the house in what, Al? Three months? Start with the kitchen and baths."

"Sure," Al agreed. "It won't be finished but you could live here, definitely."

"You know what? We should celebrate," Tim declared. "Let's get lunch at Big Ernie's. My treat."

Kara groaned at the thought of the greasy spoon Tim loved so much but heard herself agreeing anyway. It wasn't until they were locking back up that Tim's face suddenly fell.

"Dang it," he said. "I can't go to Big Ernie's. I promised Jill I would pick Brad up from school and take him to the dentist."

"Oh, well, that's okay," Kara said, slightly relieved.

"Hey, Al?"

"Yes, Tim?"

"Would you mind dropping Kara off at my house? It's on your way and I'm headed in the opposite direction," Tim said. She had walked over, but the weather had suddenly turned colder in the afternoon.

"Sure, if she don't mind," Al agreed. It wasn't exactly on his way, but it was only a few blocks out of his way and he really didn't mind.

"Thanks, buddy," he replied, lightly pushing Kara towards Al's car.

"Thanks," Kara said, buckling her seat belt. "Tim is...,"

"I know," Al said with a laugh. He paused for a moment, then forged ahead. "You know, we could get some lunch, if you want to, I mean."

"Okay," she smiled. "Just not Big Ernie's."

"Agreed," he laughed. "I know a little coffee shop on Cedar that does lunches. They have great pie, too."

"Sounds good," she smiled again.

Kara had a wonderful afternoon with Al. They had spent hours at the coffee shop, sipping coffee and talking about plans for the house. She loved the way his whole face seemed to light up as he would think of an idea then sketch it down on a napkin. He seemed to lose some of his shyness and reserves when talking about building things. They had even gone to Harry's hardware store to look at paint and wall paper samples.

It was almost dinner time when she finally came home.

"About time you came home," Tim said. "Were you with Al this whole time?"

She nodded. "We were talking about the house."

"Oh," he replied, resisting the urge to tease her. This was his second chance to put things right and he wasn't going to push too hard and mess it up again. "Well, you know, I get final say on anything we do on Tool time."

"Yeah, and I get final say on anything you do to the house I'm going to be paying for the next thirty years," she shot back.

"Yeah," he agreed with a smirk that clearly said he didn't agree. "I was thinking we could take the boys and Jill over to see it after supper."

"Okay," she said, padding back to den. She set her purse down and shut the door, truly smiling for the first time in weeks. It had been the first truly nice time she'd had since Jack's wife had called her. Well, until she saw her robe hanging on the back of door and remembered the four positive pregnancy tests stuffed in the pocket. She quickly counted up the weeks on her fingers. Six months would mean that she would be due just before or right after the house was finished. Well, at least she wouldn't be living in Tim's den by then.

* * *

Please R and R.


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